And daniel m



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. BEYER & D. M. LESTER. FEEDING DEVICE FOR ENVELOPE MACHINES.

No. 478,779. Patented July 12,1892.

3 SheetsSheet 2. O. BEYER & D. M. LESTER. FEEDING DEVICE FOR ENVELOPE MACHINES.

Pa tentged July 12, 1892.

gr i [No Model.)

- (No Model.) I 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

G. BEYERX: D. M.-LESTER. FEEDING DEVICE FOR ENVELOPE MACHINES.

No. 478,779. Patented July 12, 1892 \wvewxowr$ Chum-Ms X5 EA E D @WLQXWVM M921 em 5 We) mxmwms U EM c @b' UNITED "STATES,

PATENT 1 OFFICE.

CHARLES BEYER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, AND DANIEL M. LESTER, OF

NORWICH, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGN WICH, CONNECTICUT. V p

FEEDING DEVICE FOR ORS TO LESTER & WASLEY, OF NOR- ENVELOPE-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent magma dated July 12, 1892.

Application filed September 28, .1891. Serial No. 407,013. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, CHARLES BEYER, of Brooklyn, Kings county, New York, and DAN- IEL M. LESTER, of Norwich, New London 5 county, Connecticut, citizens of the .United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feeding Devices for Envelope-Machines, which improvements are fully set forth and described in the following specification, reference being had to the ac companying three sheets of drawings.

Our invention is in the class of envelopemachines in which an elevator bearing a pile of cut blanks is automatically fed upward as the blanks are successively removd fromthe top of the pile; and its obj ectis to provide simple but positive mechanism for use Wi th such elevators that shall act at proper times to check the rising of the elevator-bed above a given plane,

and thus prevent said bed from coming 1nto contact with the gummers and pickers after the cut blanks are exhausted.

It is customary in this class of machines to place immediately on the elevator bed a cushion of rubber, upon which the blanks rest and which serves to minimize the blow or shock which would result if the impact of the pickers were met only by thepile of closelypacked blanks. If no provision is made to limit 0 the upward movement of the elevator and 1ts rubber cushion, the pickers, after exhausting the pile of paper blanks, will then gum the rubber cushion and seekto pick it up and make an envelope of it, resulting usually in 3 5 breaking some of the operative parts of the machine.

Our invention, as now provided, permits the elevator-bed and its pile of blanks to rise sufficiently to deliver all or nearly all of the paper blanks, and then causes said elevator to drop to its lowest position, beyond the reach of the pickers, where it remains untll supplied with a fresh pile of blanks.

To explain our inventlon 1nore perfectly,

we have annexed to this specification a set of drawings, in which Figurelis an end elevation of an envelopemachine frame having attached thereto the elevator and such other parts as are necessary to the working of our improvements. Fig.2

is an enlarged detached side view of the elevator, and Fig. 3 a front view of the same. Fig. 4 15 atop view of the lever, which'automatically controls the dropping of the elevator when the blanks are exhausted by the pickers, and also shows a portion of the connecting link or rod 0' and the angle-bar 0, which coact with the elevator, to move said lever into the path of the plunger-rod, as hereinafter explained. Fig. 5 is an inner side view of the elevator and its supporting-frame, showing the location of the angle-bar and connecting-rod above referred to.

Referring to the drawings, the letter ct denotes the main frame of an envelope-machine, having mounted thereon a bed or table I), which supports many of the operative parts of the machine, including the elevator, to which our invention particularly relates. All of those elements which have no immediate relation to our present improvements are purposely omitted to avoid complication.

0 indicates a yoke secured to table b, providing a support and upper bearing for a plunger-rod 0, whose office is to carry a plunger 0 that serves to force the paper blanks down through a forming-die, where they may be acted upon by the flap folders. (Not shown.) The lower end of rod 0 has clamped to it a split collar cl, to whose lower end is secured a pitman cl. The lower end of the pitman is here shown as connected with one arm of a bifurcated lever d hung on a shaft or stud 03 In the other arm of lever d is a roll d, that rests on a cam e on the driving-shaft 6. Each revolution of said shaft acts to raise the lever 61 and the connected plunger-rod.

WVe have shown and described the most common means employed for imparting reciprocating motion to the rod 0"; but any other practical means could be used as well.

The elevator proper, which bears the pile of cut blanks, is indicated'by the letter f, and consists of a horizontal plate, on which is, preferably, a cushion of rubber f, conforming in size and outline with the cut blanks which it is intended to support. The horizontal plate f is fixed to the upper end of a vertical frame f which is arranged to slide in or on a fixed frame 9, bolted to the under side of the table I). The movable frame f has one or more racks f that are engaged by corresponding gears g on a shaft 9 journaled in the fixed frame. The outer end of shaft g has secured to it a hand-wheel h and also a ratchet-wheel h, the latter being engaged and in a measure controlled by a pawl h ,-pivoted on frame 9 over the ratchet-wheel and preferably of curved shape, as shown. When the ratchet-wheel is rotated from right to left hand, the gears g, acting on racks f cause the elevator to move upward.

Mechanism as follows is provided to rotate said ratchet-wheel: A vertically-movable bar t' is attached to the fixed frame g and bears a pawl 70, whose lower end is in position to engage the teeth of wheel h, the pawl being held in its normal position (against the wheel) by a suitable spring When the bar i is forced downward, the pawl 70 hooks into a tooth of the ratchet-wheel, and as the bar is forced upward said pawl rolls the wheel forward a distance equal to the length of one tooth, whereupon the first-described pawl 77? comes into service and holds the wheel against backward rotation. As the bar i continues its vertically reciprocating movement, the pawl 70 continues to rotate the ratchet-wheel with a step-by-step movement, and thus raises the elevator and its pile of blanks to compensate for the removal of said blanks.

The mechanism provided for moving bar 2' forms no part of our present invention and is not illustrated here, but may be seen in Patent No. 221,835, issued November 18, 1879.

It should be noted that the two pawls 72, and 7c are so shaped andso hung relative to each other that when the free end of the former is forced downward to throw its other end out of engagement with the teeth of the ratchetwheel such movement also serves to crowd the other pawl 7t away from and out of mesh with said wheel, and the elevator is then free to drop to its lowest position, which is determined by a stop m, formed of rubber, at the bottom of frame g, against which the movable frame abuts.

Projecting from the side of frame g (at right angles to and just above shaft g) is a stud m, on which is hung a lever-arm n, one of whose ends extends toward the plungerrod 0, as seen in Fig. 1, its opposite end being of such length that it extends toward the front of the machine and terminates immediately over the free end of pawl 72, When the rear end of this lever n is raised, its other (front) end serves to force the free end of said pawl 72. downward, and thus withdraw both of the pawls from engagement with the ratchet-teeth. When the bar is released, it falls back until a stop 8 on the front end engages with the frame g and holds the bar in its original position. The lever-arm n is of peculiar construction and is best illustrated in Figs. 2 and 4. The end which engages the plunger-rod is formed as a separate piece or and is hinged to the principal section n, as at M, thus permitting the extreme inner end of the complete lever to swing a limited distance in a horizontal plane to bring said end into the path of the split collard, carried by the plunger-rod. A spring 71. serves to throw section at out of longitudinal alignment with the main section 'It (see Fig. 4) and also to hold the end of section at normally out of the path of the collar 01 as the latter moves. In order to bring said section into the path of the coll'ar when it is desired to drop the elevatorbed, we have provided an angle-bar 0, pivoted to the fixed frame g, and have connected the lower end of said bar with the hingedleversection 71. by a connecting-rod 0' in such manner that when the angle-bar is swung on its pivot the hinged lever-section is drawn into the path of the collar d. The upper end of angle-bar 0 is bent laterally, as shown, and lies in the path of a stud or plate 0 on the movable framef the location ofthe stud or plate being such that it engages and rocks the angle-bar 0 just before the last blanks are removed from the elevator.

The operation of our device is as follows: Assuming that the elevator is loaded with a pile of envelope-blanks and set in operation, a single blank is removed by the pickers and raised to a position where it is' grasped by suitable carriers and passed through the several operations necessary to form a finished envelope. Each removal of a blank results in gradually reducing the height of the pile, and to compensate for such reduction the elevator and remaining blanks are raised intermittently by means of the described pawls, &c., to keep the upper blank as nearly as possible at a givenheight, so that the pickers will descend as nearly as possible the same distance each time before reaching the pile. As the blanks are removed and the elevator fed upward, the stud or plate 0 gradually approaches the shorter arm of angle-bar o and finally rocks said bar on its pivot, where upon the connecting-rod 0 draws the leversection it into the path of collar d, which immediately rocks the lever, throwing its front end downward and forcing both of the pawls out of engagement with the ratchet-wheel, thus permitting the elevator to drop to its lowest position, where it cannot be reached by the pickers.

If desired, a plate or stud could be attached to the split collar 01 to engage and operate lever 1?. instead of permitting said collar to coact with the lever. It should also be understood that many of the various elevators employed in this class of machines could be controlled by the devices herein described for dropping the elevator-bed when the blanks are exhausted.

Having described our invention, We claim 1. In an envelope-machine, the combination, with a vertically-movable table for holding the blanks, of mechanism for elevating the table, a lever one end of which is adapted to engage with said mechanism, a plunger-rod provided with a plunger for operating upon the blanks and also formed or provided with ITO means for engaging with the opposite end of said lever, and means for moving said opposite end of the lever into the path of the plunger when the table reaches its upward limit, whereby the lever is rocked upon its fulcrum and one end of it is caused to engage with and to release the lifting mechanism and permit the table to assume its original position, substantially as set forth.

2. In an envelope-machine, in combination with the plunger-rod and a vertically-movable elevator held by a pawl, as set forth, mechanism for moving the elevator upward, a jointed lever of the form described, one of whose ends is immediately over thefree end of said pawl, and mechanism, as specified, for moving the opposite (hinged) end of said lever into the path of the plunger-rod, for the purpose stated.

3. In combination with the plunger-rod of an envelope-machine, an elevator held by a pawl h, as set forth, mechanism for moving the elevator upward, said elevator having a projecting plate 0 an angle-bar 0, having one arm in the path of said plate, a jointed lever 'n, as set forth, and a rod 0, connecting said angle-bar with the hinged section of said lever, all being substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. In an envelope-machine, the combination, with a vertically-movable table, of a ratchetwheel connectedtherewith, a plunger-rod in the machine, provided with a plunger for operating upon the blanks, a lever pivotally secured to the frame of the machine, one end of which is movable laterally, said plunger being formed or provided with means for enga ing with said movable end of the lever, means for moving said end of the lever, and two pawls for engaging with and operating the ratchetwheel, one ofsaid pawls having its head between the periphery of the wheel and the other pawl and having its opposite end eX- tended beyond its fulcrum-point into the path 7 of the lever, substantially as set forth.

CHARLES BEYER. DANIEL M. LESTER.

WVitn esses FRANK H. ALLEN, ALONZO M. LUTHER. 

